Quickies: New CA Laws, Flipping Scripts, and #WhatTransLooksLike

CA to Ban Trans and Gay Panic Defenses – Currently, CA law allows murder charges to be reduced to manslaughter if the defendant was suddenly provoked. Once the governor signs AB2501 into law, defendants will no longer be able to us a victim’s gender identity or sexual orientation in this defense.

CA to Colleges: Sex Requires Affirmative Consent – Another awesome piece of CA legislation, SB 967 requires colleges to implement programs to curb instances of sexual violence, and to hold students to the standard of affirmative consent. As stated in the bill,

It is the responsibility of each person involved in the sexual activity to ensure that he or she has the affirmative consent of the other or others to engage in the sexual activity. Lack of protest or resistance does not mean consent, nor does silence mean consent. Affirmative consent must be ongoing throughout a sexual activity and can be revoked at any time. The existence of a dating relationship between the persons involved, or the fact of past sexual relations between them, should never by itself be assumed to be an indicator of consent.

Of course, mainstream media is trying to remain “fair and balanced” by quoting reactions from rape apologists.

Australia Protesters Flip Script on Anti-Choice Conference – Protesters blocked the entrance to the World Congress of Families conference, forcing attendees and speakers to exit their cars and wade through the hostile crowd. In addition to promoting anti-choice lies about the purported link between cancer and abortion, the WCoF is generally anti-woman and anti-LGBT.

Michael Sam Cut form Rams – Sam practiced with the team in the preseason but failed to make the final 53-man roster. Sam was named 2013 Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and should have picked up much earlier in the draft, but the NFL’s homophobia lead to Sam going to the already defense-heavy Rams in the 7th round. Although Sam performed well during the preseason, he was out-played by fellow rookie Ethan Westbrooks and failed to pick up the only open spot on this year’s Ram’s defense. Sam is now a free agent, and he may be picked up for another team’s practice squad in the coming days.

Facebook Implements Gender Neutral Relationship Descriptions – In recognition of non-binary gender individuals, Facebook now supports relationship labels such as “parent”, “sibling”, “child”, “sibling of parent”, and “child of sibling.” Personally, I find the gender-neutral nomenclature for aunt/uncle and niece/nephew relations is a bit cumbersome, but it’s preferable to being misgendered.

Jac is a bisexual, genderqueer, feminist, godless liberal. They grew up in small town Pennsylvania and spent their adulthood exploring progressively larger and queerer cities. They currently work as an online tutor in the subjects of math, science and writing. When they are not tutoring or carrying out the gay agenda, they enjoy reading, cooking, science documentaries, and long walks on the beach.

Some great lines:
“The challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic, and the only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction—that same-sex couples and their children don’t need marriage because same-sex couples can’t produce children, intended or unintended—is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.”
“homosexuality is not a voluntary condition and homosexuals are among the most stigmatized, misunderstood, and discriminated-against minorities in the history of the world,”
“Does Wisconsin want to push homosexuals to marry persons of the opposite sex because opposite-sex marriage is “optimal”? Does it think that allowing same-sex marriage will cause heterosex-uals to convert to homosexuality? Efforts to convert homo-sexuals to heterosexuality have been a bust; is the opposite conversion more feasible?”
“Wisconsin’s remaining argument is that the ban on same-sex marriage is the outcome of a democratic process—the enactment of a constitutional ban by popular vote. But ho-mosexuals are only a small part of the state’s population—2.8 percent, we said, grouping transgendered and bisexual persons with homosexuals. Minorities trampled on by the democratic process have recourse to the courts; the recourse is called constitutional law.”
“The state should want homosexual couples who adopt children — as, to repeat, they are permitted to do — to be married, if it is serious in arguing that the only governmental interest in marriage derives from the problem of accidental births. (We doubt that it is serious.)”

Hanoumatoi, Have you ever considered writing for Queereka? I’m not in a position to make an offer. You’d have to go through the contact form and submit a writing sample. But I think there would be a place for someone who wanted to cover the same-sex marriage beat. My Monday Quickies only cover events that happened near the end of the previous week, and I only write about same-sex marriage when it’s something big and easy to understand, like a state legalizing it. You’re clearly dedicated to following this issue. Consider applying. If you get in, you could be writing stand-alone articles instead of comments at the end of mine.

The offer is kind, but I’m not sure it would be appropriate for me, since I identify as a straight cis male. I am working to be a strong ally, but I would feel a bit awkward speaking for a group which has been so marginalized. I love reading what y’all write, and hey, it’s good to have some action in the comments ^_^